About this book

The plant fossil record provides evidence that the genus Metasequoia was widely distributed and experienced a wide range of climatic and environmental conditions throughout the Northern Hemisphere from the early Late Cretaceous to the Plio-Pleistocene. Today the genus is limited to one species with approximately 5,000 mature individuals growing in the Xiahoe Valley in southeastern China. The Geobiology and Ecology of Metasequoia is a distillation of the collective efforts and results of the world's Metasequoia specialists and enthusiasts. It is the most up-to-date and comprehensive reference source for the genus and the authors have sought to incorporate obscure, hard-to-get and non-English reference sources. The Geobiology and Ecology of Metasequoia reviews what is known about the biology, ecology and physiology of fossil and living Metasequoia, current research directions and problems that remain unresolved.

The Geobiology and Ecology of Metasequoia presents a definitive overview of fossil and living Metasequoia and was written by sixteen of the world's experts on this important genus. Given the reality of increasing human pressure and the inevitability of global change, efforts to conserve this ancient genus are underway. The Geobiology and Ecology of Metasequoia will be of interest to botanists, geologists, paleobotanists, biogeographers, foresters, ecologists, paleoecologists, ecophysiologists, geochemists, climate modelers, geneticists, naturalists, science historians, and gardeners and will be useful as a supplemental text for advanced undergraduate and graduate level courses in paleoecology.

Contents

I: Fossil Metasequoia and History- The Evolution and Biogeographic History of Metasequoia- Paleoecology and History of Metasequoia in Japan, with Reference to its extinction and Survival in East Asia- A High-Resolution Palynological Analysis, Axel Heiberg Island, Canadian High Arctic- Metasequoia in the Oligocene Bridge Creek Flora of Western North America: Ecological Implications and The History of Research- Gunther's Travels: The Odyssey of Metasequoia Seeds from the 1920s?